This is one of the few factory-sharpened Blackwings I’ve seen. The point has the telltale striations that come from being run across a belted sandpaper sharpener. You can see one in action at the 8:40 mark in this video.

Why some were factory-sharpened and others weren’t is another one of those funny, hard-to-explain details. This version of the pencil was kind of transitional—it was the first with the new logo, but still had the shortened length of the earlier pencils. Furthermore, they were available un-sharpened as well. Perhaps pre-sharpening them was another element of change that was introduced, but for whatever reason was eventually dropped.

The twilight of the Blackwing has grown murky over the years. Even those with only a passing interest in the pencil are likely to have heard some version of the story, which usually centers around a machine breaking and that the company wouldn’t fix it. While the story does involve a broken machine, the end of the Blackwing 602 wasn’t brought about by this reason alone, it was precipitated by a confluence of mechanical, financial, and cultural circumstances.

Perhaps the most widely-read and frequently-cited article about the Blackwing’s demise was written by Doug Martin in 2004, called The Blackwing 602 – The Final Chapter. It is based on first-hand interviews conducted at the Sanford plant where the last Blackwing pencils were manufactured, and it remains the most detailed account available.

Specialized machinery was in fact required to manufacture the Blackwing’s extended ferrule and small metal crimp that held the eraser in place. But there’s more than just a ‘broken machine’ to this story, as Mr. Martin explains:

“It is true that the ferrule machine was broken, but it had been broken even before Sanford bought the company. A large stock of ferrules remained, and all Blackwing production drew parts from this stock. Those familiar with the Blackwing know of the small aluminum clip that secures the eraser in the ferrule. It was this small part that ran out of stock and prompted the discontinuation of Blackwing production.”

Of the Eberhard Faber pencils that were once fitted with this extended ferrule, the Blackwing was the last. It is understandable then if Sanford felt hesitant about repairing the machinery, but couldn’t they have simply given the Blackwing a new, standard-sized ferrule? It’s true that the extended ferrule is part of the Blackwing’s allure, but given a choice wouldn’t consumers would have preferred a new ferrule over the pencil being discontinued altogether?

This leads to another important factor, again quoting Mr. Martin:

“During the last years of production, the company made only about 1100 dozen Blackwings annually. The facility produces more pencils than that in a single hour! It was an economic decision based on low demand and the relatively high cost of repairs to the machinery that brought the end of the Blackwing.”

Were Blackwings just not selling well? I think it’s safe to assume the answer is ‘yes’, but with all the talk of this “legendary” pencil how was it that fewer than 1,100 boxes were being purchased by 1998? I’m curious if it wasn’t a combination of both supply and demand: was the Blackwing losing its audience, or was the audience losing places to buy the Blackwing? Probably a bit of both.

The waning of hand-drawn animation must have had an impact on sales. I don’t know for sure, but I wonder if animators weren’t the largest single consumers of Blackwing pencils at one point. Combine that with the cultural eschewing of writing by hand in general and its no wonder Sanford was unwilling to fix a machine specialized for a single pencil that was selling only 1,100 boxes per year, in a world that is turning its back on the writing pencil.

I wonder what impact each corporate sale (i.e. 1988 to Faber-Castell and 1994 to Sanford) had on production. When the new entity took over, did they automatically resume previous quotas, and was there ever a break in production? Did each sale prompt an audit of the product line resulting in adjusted production? What I would like to know is how invested Sanford really was in wood-case pencil production vis-à-vis their Eberhard Faber acquisitions in general, because the Blackwing wasn’t the only one to fall (but it was the only one that had the special ferrule). Was the Blackwing a victim of its own uniqueness, or was Sanford just cleaning house?

I have seen more than a few “left-handed” pencils—that is to say, pencils whose labeling reads from the ferrule to the point. But it’s the “right-handed” pencil (for the adroit and dexterous among us) that seems much more common today.

The orientation of the ferrule on this mollydooker’s pencil is likely due to an error that occurred during assembly. I don’t know how frequently this happened but I imagine that the sinistral pencils were either weeded-out by quality control, or perhaps it happened infrequently enough that no one seemed to mind. The position of the imprint is a bit goofy, but you’d likely have no problem writing with this linkisch pencil.

This is the only one I’ve seen in person but I’ve heard tell of other lefty Blackwings, suggesting it’s a less-than-rare occurrence. I wonder, though, if the frequency correlates with something as localized as a particular production run, or if “Backwardwings” were evenly distributed across the Blackwing’s 65-year lifespan.

Recent posts have scrutinized every aspect of the Blackwing 602’s iconic ferrule. This post takes things in the opposite direction.

I have neither read nor heard of the Blackwing being commercially available without ferrules. The ferrule—especially from the 1970s onward—was part and parcel to the Blackwing’s identity. This style of ferrule could be found on other Eberhard Faber products dating back to the 1920s, such as the Van Dyke, which would eventually become the Microtomic.

My guess is that these pencils were taken out of the production line just prior to being fitted with ferrules. Everything else about them, e.g. the labeling and finish, seem normal and they don’t appear to be defective in any way. I think it would probably be over-speculation to suggest that they may have been made for a European market, where eraser-tipped pencils are mostly frowned upon.

Maybe someone at the factory just wanted to take home a few without ferrules.